Performing your Penance Required for Sacrament

[kykid]

I personally do not know if failure to perform your penance makes the absolution invalid. As a matter of fact, I never really thought about it.

Having said this, I know that in my confessions, Father John gives me absolution, and then gives me my penance. I try to immediately perform my penance upon leaving the confessional. For example, during my last confession, after absolution, Father John gave me a penance of saying three Our Fathers. I performed this immediately upon leaving the confessional.

As a former Protestant, I have come to love the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and the grace and peace received therein.

 

[Vico]

I personally do not know if failure to perform your penance makes the absolution invalid. As a matter of fact, I never really thought about it.

Having said this, I know that in my confessions, Father John gives me absolution, and then gives me my penance. I try to immediately perform my penance upon leaving the confessional. For example, during my last confession, after absolution, Father John gave me a penance of saying three Our Fathers. I performed this immediately upon leaving the confessional.

As a former Protestant, I have come to love the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and the grace and peace received therein.

It is truly wonderful Holy Mystery. That is also how I fulfill the sacrament.

The Catechism is very clear that it is intention to act, not the actual penitential act, that is a condition of validity for the sacrament of Penance. (See CCC 1491 in one of the previous posts.)

 

[bmadamsberry]

I guess if you aren’t going to trust the sources that I provided, and you prefer instead to trust your own personal judgement or the judgement of a “priests” blog online, you’ll have to suffer the consequences of that in eternity. That’s what free will is all about.

But, when you stand before the judgement seat of the Almighty God, you won’t be able to claim ingorance anymore, now will you?

The source is the Council of Trent and the Catechism of the Council of Trent.

That’s an infallible source, by the way. Infallible. And the statements are perfectly clear and understandable.

You are confusing two different, though linked, things.

You are confusing the Sacrament of Confession with absolution. They are, in fact, two different things. So for the Sacrament of Confession to be valid, one must fulfill the satisfaction (SO YOU ARE RIGHT ABOUT THIS POINT), but…

Absolution, the actual forgiving of sins itself, does not need penance.

Let’s read Can. 959: “In the sacrament of penance the faithful who confess their sins to a legitimate minister, are sorry for them, and intend to reform themselves obtain from God through the absolution imparted by the same minister forgiveness for the sins they have committed after baptism and, at the same, time are reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by sinning.”

IN the Sacrament of Penance (where absolution takes place), one is absolved of their sins 1) If it is a legitimate minister, 2) If one is sorry for them, 3) Intend to reform themselves. According to Can. 959, this is all that is needed for absolution. There is no mention of penances being completed.

What Father Z was talking about was absolution, what you are talking about is the Sacrament itself.

 

[FrDavid96]

You are confusing two different, though linked, things.

You are confusing the Sacrament of Confession with absolution. They are, in fact, two different things. So for the Sacrament of Confession to be valid, one must fulfill the satisfaction (SO YOU ARE RIGHT ABOUT THIS POINT), but…

Absolution, the actual forgiving of sins itself, does not need penance.

Let’s read Can. 959: “In the sacrament of penance the faithful who confess their sins to a legitimate minister, are sorry for them, and intend to reform themselves obtain from God through the absolution imparted by the same minister forgiveness for the sins they have committed after baptism and, at the same, time are reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by sinning.”

IN the Sacrament of Penance (where absolution takes place), one is absolved of their sins 1) If it is a legitimate minister, 2) If one is sorry for them, 3) Intend to reform themselves. According to Can. 959, this is all that is needed for absolution. There is no mention of penances being completed.

What Father Z was talking about was absolution, what you are talking about is the Sacrament itself.

Actually, absolution and forgiveness are 2 different things.

Check the Catechism again, forgiveness comes through absolution.

Absolution is a juridic act of the Church whereby the penitent is reconciled to God and the Church.

Forgiveness is a divine act of God which remits the sin.

“In the sacrament of penance the faithful who confess their sins to a legitimate minister, are sorry for them, and intend to reform themselves obtain from God through the absolution imparted by the same minister forgiveness for the sins they have committed after baptism and, at the same, time are reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by sinning.”

In the Sacrament of Confession, we are both forgiven and absolved.

Many people confuse these 2 words.

 

[Sirach2]

SaintGobban:

In charity, I wrote to this alleged priest in order that he might correct his error, which he might be disseminating to thousands of faithful Catholics, who would then be misinformed and not saying their penances, and then not actually receiving the Sacrament.

He responded to the information I provided with one sentence dismissals (I tried a couple of times) and the instruction, “don’t bother to write back.” When I presented him with irrefutable proof of the truth of what I was saying, he called me a “sock puppet.”

So, I feel compelled to try to correct his erroneous teaching here.

It is becoming very clear that your thread was not begun in order to seek truth. Rather, you delivered a pedantic theological discourse, intent on dispensing your own interpretation of Catholic teaching, with a further agenda of publicly attacking a priest who angered you for disagreeing with you.

Fr. Z gave you a kind and thorough answer. To challenge him again afterwards with two more comments is enough to warrant his dismissal of you, as being a “sock puppet” - if that is what he finally told you. He wrote:

[Okay. You are having difficulty. Read the paragraph again. I never said that satisfaction was not essential to the sacrament. It is. I was crystal clear about that. What constitutes satisfaction is the point. Also, when the penitent receives absolution it is either efficacious or it isn’t. It doesn’t become efficacious later on because the penitent said a couple Hail Marys later on. Good things follow from the doing to the penance, but the validity and effect of the absolution do not depend on the doing of the assigned penance.]